I want to ride like an eagle...

OK, that's not exactly how the Steve Miller band sings it, but I was belting out my own lyrics while cycling today over the I-90 bridge westbound. I was on about mile 46 of today's brick ride and thought I saw a shadow or an airplane above my right shoulder. I looked up and there was a big 'ol bald eagle cruising along side me as I was descending down onto the bridge deck. It was pretty cool to get a boost from watching it flying next to me for a couple seconds before it headed south.

And I must say, the rest of the brick was pretty good, too, today, and I felt strong and had fun out there. (Note: I didn't say I was fast, I said I felt strong...I looked at the stats and I know the difference, but hey, it's nice to feel good). The weather was good, I was happily over dressed and warm (as usual, I had on more stuff than any/all of the other cyclists out and about), and I'm thinking I was also pretty well fueled from an excellent dinner date last night. This week, my life does NOT suck. Anyway, back on topic. I had a 55 mile ride/40 minute run and am a little tired of the same routes I've been doing, so I resurrected an old one I haven't ridden in a couple of years. I rode over the short side of Mercer Island, through Factoria, down Newport way, around Lake Sammamish, and back. It's a nice route with a few good hills; I especially like the slow steady climb coming back up Newport from Issaquah. I'm still riding the second of 2 bikes I've had to borrow during my unfinished bike crisis, but this one fits me pretty well and gets it done. The current ride, however, is a bit heavy and I am REALLY missing and craving my aerobars. But today I decided that maybe riding this bike (that, sidebar I'm very thankful my pal, Heather, loaned me as it's saving my bacon) could turn out to be the cycling equivalent of swimming with a drag suit. When my new carbon fiber (aka money pit) steed is up and running, maybe I'll have dormant speed in my legs that will unleash. Yeah, I'm going with that idea. Cause let's just say...cycling remains my weakest link.

Anyway, I enjoyed the ride today, and figured out a bike route to get me exactly 55 miles...did a quick transition, and got out for my run back down by Lake Washington. The first 10 minutes or so felt like, uh, a brick, but not too bad. Then I settled in pretty well and held a 9:22 pace which doesn't suck, especially since I ended on the short hill up to my house. I did about 2 minutes of extra credit (hey, it's something) and got in 4.5 miles.

The rest of this fine day will be spent getting a recovery massage, going for burgers with my Iron friends, Christie & Theresa (who did a 60 mile/12 mile brick today, how glad was I not to be them today, but will strive to eat at least as much as they do) and starting a dog sitting gig with Bugsy the cute curmudgeon pug.

5 weeks till race day and this coming week is a recovery week...works for me. I got in 13 hours of training this week, whoop!

Brick:

55 mile bike
3:49
Avg HR: 128 Max HR: 156
Avg pace: 14.4

4.5 mile run
42:08
Avg HR: 146 Max HR: 162
Avg Pace 9:22

Knee-covery

This week was a recovery week...turned out I needed it. Last week's long run followed by a couple of bike rides on my friend's bike (i.e. not a bike fitted to me)...followed by running hill repeats on Tuesday...got my knee really pissed off by Thursday night/yesterday morning. Some ice and Aleve last night and ice this morning seems to have helped get it in check, but I was pretty stressed out about it yesterday. After talking with Cheryl (who has more sense than me, by far), I trimmed down today's brick and did the bike part on my old bike/trainer with my old shoes. The bike ride scheduled should have been 30 miles, but I called it good at 1:15 and did the scheduled run. Between about 30-50 minutes into the biking, the knee was a little cranky, but then it was fine again and I kept it to a moderate pace...no standing, etc....The run felt fine for the most part and I kept that pretty flat, too. I iced again after the brick and the rest of the weekend will be rest, with more ice and Aleve too...hopefully, a little more recovery time will have me ready for a building week again by Monday. Brick: 1:15 bike trainer (Avg HR 129) 1:25 transition 40 min run, 4.4 miles, Avg HR 144)

double digits and bagged brick

What is it about alliteration that I like so much? Hm...don't know, but I do always try for an alliterated (is that a word?) title for my blog posts. Anyway...yesterday was the first double digit run in a long time...10 miles. It wasn't fast and it wasn't pretty (as witnessed by my friend, Tara, who was rowing on Lake Washington and told me later she saw me slogging along)...but it was OK. The last 2 miles were "pick up" or tempo, but I didn't have much to push and these last 2 miles were way slower than last week. I really felt body tired all day afterwards...my calves were tight by last night, my hamstrings were sore, and my back and shoulders felt it, too. I pretty much decided during this run that I'd like to go back to Olympic distance races for the rest of the season after Hawaii. The longer runs really take their toll on me. I took some Aleve before bed last night and slept OK, but not that great. This whole week I felt like I was dragging ass on workouts...my indoor bike workouts on Monday and Wednesday both really felt like a slog and were nothing resembling fun. It could be, though, that other stresses (like the bike crisis, for one) were spilling over into my workouts and body tiredness. Oh, and the quick update on the bike situation is that I borrowed my friend, Elaine's bike and I'm looking for a frame to replace mine as it is, indeed, totalled. But I have at least one lead and having a substitute bike in the meantime has reduced my freak-out factor significantly. Today was supposed to be a swim and weights day...however it was the first sunny day in quite a while---and might be the only one for a while. My afternoon was free, so I made a Carpe Diem mental health decision and rode the bike part of tomorrow's brick today because tomorrow could be crappy again and the idea of 3 hours on the bike trainer tomorrow and wasting the sun opportunity today seems almost criminal. My friend's bike fits OK...not as well as mine, but I put my pedals on and it'll do. I definitely missed my aerobars! Anyway, there was no way I was going to run off the bike today after doing a 10-miler yesterday, so I just rode and, I guess, kind of jacked up my training schedule by sabbotaging this weekend's brick, but...I think I'm over it. I'll get in at least one more run over the weekend. I get to go to a big dinner party tonight that will also be attended by my friends Christie & Theresa who are training for a full Ironman at the moment...they rode 102 miles today and the party host has been informed of the likelihood that we will eat everything in her house except the cat food. I'm pretty sure she decided to make a second roast when she heard they were riding a century today! Thursday's ridiculously slow 10 mile run: 2 mile super slow warm up: 21:37 (Avg HR 124, Avg pace 10:48) 6 miles moderate: 1:02:27 (Avg HR 134, avg pace 10:25) 2 miles pick up/tempo: 19:03 (avg HR 146, avg pace 9:34 Today's 51 mile ride: 3:28:22 Avg HR 124 Avg pace 14.6

Broken bike...

On Saturday I decided, despite marginal weather, to ride outdoors...the lack of enthusiasm for the bike trainer outweighed the lack of enthusiasm for the weather. I had a 45 mile ride/35 minute run brick on the schedule and needed to get it done early, so I got on the bike about 8:00a.m. As I went down the street, I heard something bounce off my back spokes...wondered what it was and quickly dismissed the thought (later realized it was probably a tire iron). As I turned onto Lk. Wa. Blvd., my pedals felt funny...I looked down and saw that my spare inner tube had come out of my saddle bag (dumbass me left it unzipped after taking out my multi-tool a week or so ago), slithered down, and was snaked all through the rear cassette. It had pulled/broken the dereiller off, leaving it hanging alongside the bike. Fortunately, I was not thrown from the bike (coulda been a major crash causing situation), and, of course, I stopped immediately to cuss and assess WTF happened. It took a few minutes to take off the back wheel, unravel the tube, and then hike back up the hill home (about .7 mile) with my injured bike. It's seriously pathetic, the dereiller looks like a little broken wing hanging off the chain. I ended up (AGAIN) on the bike trainer for 2 hours and 25 minutes (then did the run outdoors) and on-demanded a movie to kill the time.

Anyway, the dereiller hanger is part of the carbon fiber frame, not simply a little replaceable part. I took the bike to Greggs Cycles on Sunday...had to wait 2 days for the Shop Manager to call Trek yesterday...to find out that this bike frame and its parts are no longer being made. I got a tip to contact Calfee, a company in California that specializes in carbon fiber bike repair...so I sent them photos of the bike's injury. They said IF they had the (nonexistant?) part, they could fix it for about $400...this does not include the hassle of disassembling the bike completely and shipping only the frame to California. So...I'm still problem solving and searching places like eBay for a new frame...and planning to get my old bike road-ready and take it off the trainer.

The human aspect of training is going OK...last week bumped me up to one more bike workout per week (timely, eh?), so I've got 3 swims, 3 bikes, and 3 runs per week...plus 2 short weights workouts. I'm feeling the addition of one more workout per week and have been sleeping a lot and pretty hard. Of course a couple nights ago, I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and had a short freakout about the bike situation...but...it'll all work out somehow and the need for sleep has been slightly greater than the stress of worrying about things, so I've been pretty religious about getting enough sleep.

I've been keeping up the spreadsheet, but haven't blogged about workouts in a while....so....let's just re-cap yesterday's interval/tempo run quickly. It was hard and I was dragging a bit, but got it done...was dang happy that yesterday only had one workout and I got it done early in the a.m. I ran outside this time for speedwork instead of the treadmill...it's finally getting light early enough to see both my watch and the road to do intervals!

5 mile run with 5x 3 minutes/1 minute intervals

1.27 mile warm up

3 minutes hard (.39 miles, avg. pace of 7:45, avg HR = 150)

1 minute recovery

3 minutes hard (.39, avg. HR = 153)

1 minute recovery

3 minutes hard (.38, avg. HR = 153)

1 minute recovery

3 minutes hard (.38, avg. HR = 153)

1 minute recovery

3 minutes hard (.38, avg. HR = 154)

1.47 mile moderate

First day of spring

I'm glad to be done with another building week and on a rest day today...and an easier recovery week coming up. Tomorrow I get to move home after about a month of housesitting and am looking forward to a little re-charging of the batteries this week. The last few weeks have been a bit crazy.

Thursday was long run day (9 miles) and I had to do it at 5:45 a.m....in the dark (stupid time change last weekend made me cranky and tired all week). It was a super slow one, but I did pick it up the last 2 miles, as per the plan, and I was damn happy when it was over. I did get to run in West Seattle, though, along Beach Drive and Alki, and having a different route was nice... it was cool to hear the water while it was still dark and I couldn't yet see it.

Yesterday was brick day...and I had a packed day afterward, so I had to get cracking pretty early so I could be somewhere by 12:30. I was on the bike by 8:15 a.m. and it was gorgeous out, but about 38 degrees. I chose the right gear, so I wasn't cold and the sunshine was great. The brick was supposed to be a 40 mile bike + 30 minute run, but I cut the bike a little short, mostly due to time constraints and how I did my route. I rode to Mercer Island and did the long side twice (out-and-back) and got in 34 miles without any stops...definitely felt the legs by the end of the ride since I've done so few "real"rides and so many on the trainer. Did a pretty quick transition...about 2:30, and ran an out-and-back in my 'hood. My legs felt very brick-ish...mission accomplished...and I was done by about 11:00. The rest of the day was work, fun, and dancing...and I got to bed at 1:00 a.m. with my feet and legs feeling completely flattened...did I mention I'm glad today is a rest day???? It's the first day of spring and sunny, so I'm a little bummed that the weather is great on a rest day, but I'll try to enjoy it without sweating. I'm working this afternoon doing chair massage at the "Big Climb" event, and that'll be close enough to a workout for me.

Brick:

34 mile bike
2:14:45
Avg HR 127
Avg pace: 15.1

Transition: 2:30ish

3.3 mile run
30:10
Avg HR 143
Avg Pace: 9:11

Who wants my autograph?

Well, after almost 45 years on this planet, I can finally say I've reached my career goal of being a professional athlete. A few days ago, Cheryl forwarded an email to me that advertised the need for runners to do some paid research on GPS devices in Seattle. I applied immediately and yesterday, I'm proud to say, I was paid to run 3 miles. My whopping salary was $25 (and the thing was downtown so I spent $7 on parking,one step forward...), but hey, it's the PRINCIPLE of the gig, right? And I'm going to call the free Gatorade my signing bonus! My friend, Kerry, got in on the study today (she made $50, clearly I need an agent!), and we're planning to go out for dinner with our cash sometime soon to toast our new careers!

Anyway, I have to say I wasn't that thrilled to run yesterday as it was a non-running day in my training schedule and they had me run 4 loops of a kind of ridiculous .75 mile loop in downtown Seattle...with lots of stoplights (read: I was jaywalking like a New Yorker despite their "safety first" directions on the waiver), but it was a cool project; they had me wear 2 Nike GPS gadgets and one Garmin (so 2 on one wrist, one on the other), to run 2 loops of the course....then go back indoors, change to 3 more gadgets, and do the same thing again. Interestingly, the Nike gadgets sucked and lost signal in the urban environment....the Garmin performed better. I overheard one of the tester guys who was supervising with his laptop say into his cell, "We have a serious bug..." Anyway, I was thrilled to post the photo above of my earnings to Facebook and I received many comments on my wall!

This morning it was time to do a "real" scheduled workout run...and it wasn't so fun. Today was Interval day and I did the working early on a treadmill at a gym in West Seattle...had to do 5x 2 minutes hard/1 minute recovery. I got it done...but did the last 10 minutes on the elliptical machine. I was bored, feeling the hamstring a little, and mostly I'm just feeling kind of tired this week. I'm trying to schedule some more sleep to recover...anyway, I didn't wear a HR monitor for the workout, but checked and the HR got up to 165 during some of the intervals, so I know I pushed it. I did each of the 2 minutes hard at 8.1mph (7:24 mile pace if the treadmill is accurate) and recovered each minute in between at an easy 5 mph jog, although those little rest minutes went by awfully fast!

Interval Run

15 min warm up (1.5 miles)

5x 2 minutes at 8.1/1 min at 5 mph

Jog at 6mph up to 4 miles

10min elliptical

47:30 total

Another brick bites the dust

Well, another brick has been checked off the list...which included another somewhat purgatorial ride on the bike trainer. Pretty sure these workouts are harder mentally than physically...

I've moved from one dog sit gig to another and am now shacked up in West Seattle for about 10 days. When Zion, the dog, and I woke up this morning (slept in till 7:30, whoop!), it was pouring. No brainer...went home after breakfast and set up the bike trainer, grabbed the remote control, and had at it.

The workout was supposed to be 35 miles on the bike and a 30 minute run...I think I rounded down a little on the bike (don't know mileage indoors, just time and HR) and threw a little extra credit at the run. Fortunately, I had a few unseen episodes of my favorite show, "The Good Wife," that I on-demanded while on the bike...interspersed with some women's college basketball. 2 hours was about all (my butt and) I could take...stretched it out to 2:05 because the UCLA/Stanford game was almost to halftime, so I stayed on to see the end of the half. I made a quick transition and slopped out into the cold yucky rain for the puddle stomping run...went down to Lake Wa Blvd and out-and-back toward Mt. Baker beach. I have to admit that I added extra time because I knew I'd have to figure out my distance later (was using my Garmin with only HR and no GPS because I'd cycled indoors) and I wanted to run to a landmark that I'd be able to find on geodistance. And yes, I realize this is completely OCD and represents an over-dependence on statistics, but hey...I like my numbers...and now know that I went...about 4.2 miles total) I also figured it wouldn't hurt to run a little more since I biked a little less.

As I was approaching Genesee Park on the way back...and my hands were freezing (thought gloves wouldn't be necessary, wrong-o) and I just wanted to be done and eating a peanut butter sandwich...a funeral procession passed me going the opposite direction. I first hoped that this was not some kind of foreshadowing of my next race...then thought that well, I'm pretty happy to be alive, healthy and fit (albeit slightly uncomfortable and slopping through cold rain wishing for sunshine fairly often these days) and not horizontal in a black car! Could be worse, right?

After I got done, I drank a V8 immediately...then took a shower and had that PBJ soon after, but could really feel the workout catching up with me fast. About an hour later, I was having that old familiar "slow motion" loopy feeling...with the echo-y headache...that means I pushed it and am doing it right. :) I made it to a Starbucks a little while later and some caffeine (god love that drug) wiped out the headache pronto. Glad tomorrow is a rest day...I got in just about 10 hours of training this week and it's time to chill for a day.

Tonight I'm going to a small dinner party/movie night at my friend, Angie's...where I will do my best not to eat the entire pork roast she's going to have in the Crock Pot...better have a(nother) snack first!

Bike/Run Brick:

2:05 bike
134 Avg HR

1:05 Transition

4.2ish mile run
40:00
Avg HR 147

Unintentional extra credit

Yesterday was a good double...went to swim team at SU in the morning and then hit a spin class with my friend, Angie, at Allstar Fitness at noon. She hooked me up with a 1-week guest pass and the class was great--one of the best instructors I've ever seen and the class was huge (with really nice bikes, too). Good energy and I worked much harder than I would have riding on my own on the trainer, for sure. I was a bit body tired later in the afternoon and was wondering if the butt kicking I had on the bike would have an effect on today's long run. Fortunately, though, my legs weren't hungover and I felt good again today.

Today was long run day. I had a morning meeting and the weather forecast was awful, so I decided to sleep in and knock it out a little later after my meeting when there would be more light and with food and caffeine in my system. The morning news said it was supposed to rain with wind gusts up to 50mph by noon/afternoon, so I was both dreading it and wanting to get it over with before trees and houses started blowing around (the weather guy on TV was almost yelling "Auntie Em! Auntie Em!").

I got out about 10:30 a.m. and drove down to the BG trail by U Village to start. I guesstimated a route and took the GPS of course, to verify along the way. The workout was supposed to be an 8 miler with the last mile at a "pick up" pace. I ran the trail toward Montlake, over the Montlake bridge, up Eastlake and over by the Howe St. stairs (where I did what turned out to be an unnecessary out-and-back further south past the stairs). By this point, there had been a few wind gusts and showers, but also sun breaks and the whole wind/rain prediction was fiction...I was happily too warm and took off my gloves. Anyway, then I went up the Howe St. stairs, back down 10th, over/through Interlakken to 23rd, then back on the trail to the car. As I was approaching the 7 mile mark, I knew I had quite a bit more than a mile to get back to the car, but decided to do the 8th mile at the push pace and then whatever was left as slower extra credit. I took it up to a tempo-ish feeling pace, which turned out to be an 8:23 mile (not bad!), then took it back down to moderate and stopped at 9 miles. I was not looking forward to this run (and the stupid weather) but it turned out great. When I came back to the dogsit house, I did planks with one dog trying to snuggle and a cat who jumped on my back. Makes things a little more interesting!

Now it's blowing pretty good outside, but who cares!

9 mile run:

7.1 miles: 1:12:31 (Avg pace 10:13, Avg HR 137)
1 mile pick up 8:23 (Avg HR 155)
.9 mile 8:25 (Avg pace 9:21, Avg HR 149)

Total time: 1:29:19

Morning Tempo run

Did a rainy tempo-ish run this morning...but at least there was some day light, so seeing the GPS wasn't so hard. I'm still staying up north, just about a mile uphill from the Burke-Gilman trail, so I ran down to the trail to do the tempo part. The workout was a 5 mile run with 3x 4 minute tempo pieces.

13 min warm up (1.4 miles)
4 minutes Tempo: .5 miles (8:05 avg. pace), 156 Avg HR
3 minutes moderate (.31)
4 minutes Tempo: .51 miles (7:57 avg. pace), 159 Avg HR
6 minutes moderate (.65)
4 minutes Tempo: .52 mile (7:43 avg pace), 157 Avg HR
12 minutes moderate (1.23)

Total: 5.1 miles, 45:54, Avg HR 144/Max 169

Fate and the forgotten shoes

This was another pretty good training week...ran hills on Tuesday morning which made me sore, but just sore enough to know I did something and to recover before running again on Thursday...that was pretty cool. Receiving a massage on Tuesday afternoon probably helped...had a trade lined up with another LMP that was timed perfectly, whoop!

Today was the usual brick Saturday...I'm dog sitting on the north end of town and went home to do the workout, waffling on the drive home about whether to ride indoors or outdoors. It wasn't raining, but still pretty cool and all the pavement looked wet (translation in my head = if I ride, bike gets dirty, I must clean it...), so I finally decided to ride indoors and run outdoors like I've done the last few Saturdays... and went about setting up the bike and getting everything organized...was almost all set up until it was time to put my shoes on and I remembered that the shoes for the indoor bike were at the dogsit house. OOPS. I figured it was fate making me get outside for a ride...so I re-organized all the gear, the other bike, and the shoes that were in attendance, and went out. After all the gear shuffling, I was really happy I rode outside! I went around Mercer Island and, although the bike did get kinda dirty, it was warm enough that riding was very comfortable. I know it was good for me to deal with some hills and wind instead of....just the remote control and a steady state ride. The workout on the plan was only 25 miles on the bike and a 25 minute run. Sounds easy enough, but "real" riding felt harder than indoor riding and my legs were a little slow on the uptake for the run. The run was really slow and clunky at the beginning...I really thought I was at snail pace, but was pleasantly surprised when I looked at my stats later and I was actually a little faster than a 9 minute mile pace, despite how it felt in my legs.

I felt pretty dragged out for a few hours after the workout and struggled a bit to give a massage...but thankfully, I only had one client and I think the "dragged out" effect may have had to do with recovery nutrition a bit, because the more food (and SALT) I continue to throw at the problem, the better I'm feeling (a can of V8 plus a can of soup in the last hour or so...probably the RDA of sodium for a week, but I'm thinking a salty dinner later may sound pretty good, so I must need it).

Tonight I'm going to see one of my favorite bands at the Triple Door...and tomorrow is a "rest" day which will include snowshoeing with some friends, but I'm hoping it'll be more of a glorified walk in the snow than a real hike. Let the weekend begin!

Brick:
25.85 mile ride
1:42:10
Avg HR: 131/Max 157
Pace: 15.2

1:45ish transition

3.1 mile run
27:43
Avg HR 144/Max 157
Pace: 8:55

Gotta take a B

My blogging has been lousy again, but I have been doing the training and putting it on the spreadsheet...I often create a narrative in my head during my workouts, but the full story hasn't made it from my head to the keyboard very often...working on it.

This past week was crazy busy and ridiculously cold...I was filling in doing some dog walking for a friend who has a dog walk business and was on vacation, plus dog sitting myself, plus doing several other part time gigs and balancing the workout schedule. Thursday was a bit of a breakthrough workout as I ran 9 miles in the snow at 5:30 a.m. That was definitely one of those workouts that happened only because it was on the training plan, but I was really psyched once I did it...it was quiet and scenic and daylight by the time I got done. I felt pretty good, but was slightly sore on Friday from it. Anyway, due to the number of plates spinning, dogs walking, and temperatures plunging, I was pretty flattened by the end of the week and one trip to the gym for weights got scrapped this week.

Yesterday morning I was up at 5:00 to work at a charity walk in Everett...It was well below freezing and I ended up walking the 1.8 mile route twice while it was snowing. By the time I got done and organized for my brick around noon, I was not exactly brimming with enthusiasm for it. I thought about cycling outdoors (and talked to Seujan about joining forces), but it was just too dang cold and, after being out in it all morning, I just wanted to "on demand" some TV and get on the trainer to get it over with. The workout was supposed to be a 30 mile ride and a 25 minute run, but...I just couldn't pull it together to sit on the bike for 2 full hours. I usually go for "A" delivery of planned workouts...or even push for extra credit...but yesterday I decided that I'd settle for "B" level work and give myself a break. I'm 14 weeks out from the race so I figure there's a little wiggle room in the plan for "life" to affect training here and there. Anyway, I watched 2 episodes of my favorite show, "The Good Wife," on the bike and did the run in the cold...and called it good. Later, I was quite happy to sit myself down in a movie theater for "True Grit" and decompress the week over a beer with a new friend.

Today is scheduled to be a rest day, but I can't get to the Masters' workout tomorrow, so I'm going to swim today and take rest day tomorrow...and get back to the gym for weights.

Brick:

Bike: 1:32
Avg HR: 137
Transition: 1:28
Run: 2.92 miles, 25:45
Avg HR: 147

Another sunny Wednesday!

Got in a double today...started out with the usual 3,000 yard wake up swim at Seattle U and got out on my bike in the sun this afternoon again (2 Wednesdays in a row, whoop!) and did the Mercer Island loop, same as last week. It was colder this time, but dry pavement and a bit of sun in February is still a thing of beauty.

23.5 mile ride
1:38:11
Avg HR = 122
Max HR = 152

It's best to digest

Got a little slack on the blog again, but have been doing the workouts, at least. Last week was a bit of a trainwreck on other fronts, but that generally fuels good workouts for me...so this part of things is good at the moment. I was even able to run off a potential hangover on Sunday, although I had to have 3 cups of coffee first.

Today was long run day...not the usual long run day, but that's the deal this week. Due to some morning stuff on the schedule, I'd planned a midday run and figured out a double breakfast strategy to prevent a bonk before the run. However, after I ate a pretty good amount at 10:00, my 10:30 client bailed (grrrr), so I decided to try to go out for the run about an hour earlier than planned, at about 11:00. The good news: having what felt like a spare tire around me forced me to run slow. It was, however, pretty uncomfortable for the first 4-5 miles. I'm (I think?) happy to report that no banana bread or yogurt was tossed in Ravenna Park, but I really was not sure whether I was hoping not to barf or hoping TO barf there for a while...I kept trying to create a new mantra but "I'm best as I digest," was about the best I could do---and that obviously sucked--- and before long I had the stupid "Do-re-mi" song from "Sound of Music" in my head ("Fa---a long long way to run" is probably how I landed there in random thought land). Clearly, I need to make up some new mantras...

For the most part, the run felt good and by halfway through, the stomach calmed down and the sun came out. Funny how during one longer run (and yes, I say this knowing that 9.5 miles is a short run for many people I know, but I still consider anything over 6 to be long), the entire day, body, and experience can feel completely different than it did at the start. Glad that this time it was better at the end than at the onset.

Anyway...glad I did it and good to know I can eat an hour before running, even though it's not optimal, and can handle it if I keep things slow. Better than running on too empty a tank and feeling bonky.

9.5 mile run
1:37:26
Avg HR: 134
Max HR: 159

Sunrise, sunset

I was running along Lake Washington when the sun came up this morning...and I was biking along Lake Washington when the sun set tonight. The fact that there actually WAS both a sunrise and a sunset in Seattle on Groundhog Day is no small thing and was not lost on me. Puxwatawny Phil did not see his shadow this morning, (apparently signalling an early spring with a 39% historical success rate as per the local TV weatherman...whose personal percentage of accuracy was somehow not mentioned in his commentary a few minutes ago, but I digress), but I'm more than happy to report that I could see MY shadow most of today.

This morning I got to sleep in a little and took off for a run around 6:45 a.m., just as it was getting light out...the sky was clear and it was really pretty along the Lake. I added a little out-and-back to my usual 5 mile route when I got to Seward Park, mostly just to get a better view of Mt. Rainier, which was pretty magnificent (Mt. Rainier, magnificent, that's redundant, but couldn't help saying it anyway). I could, unfortunately, feel my knee a bit, especially afterwards, but it was a good run with that good .5 mile hill and really nice to be out first thing on a clear 34 degree morning.

Today was my bi-weekly gig doing corporate massage at Seattle Magazine, so I was fortunately working by big west facing windows and could see the Olympics and the sunny day while doing massage for a few hours. Pretty cool. I was done at 3:00p.m., with enough time to hurry home and get on my bike.

I'd pumped up my tires and set out my gear this morning in the hopes that I wouldn't weenie out due to the cold and ride...a combination of factors (including my new Ironman friends who sent me their training calendar/schedule this morning... and the sunshine) motivated me to get my ass outside. As soon as I pedalled the first few times, I almost heard the old cheesy song, "Reunited," and fell in love with my bike again. I use my old chunky bike indoors on the trainer and I'm pretty sure I haven't ridden my good bike outdoors since...um...October? It felt great! I felt like I was riding strong and fast....which was refuted,of course, by the final stats (14.6 mph average), but I had a nice 23.5 mile ride from home around Mercer Island and back. I was SO happy I went...got home just as it was getting dark. Just enough time now to blog, eat, and go for a massage...sweet.

5.5 mile run
51:44
Avg HR = 139
Max HR = 157
Avg pace: 9:19

23.5 mile bike
1:36:14
Avg HR= 121
Max HR =147
Pace: 14.6 mph

Uneventful Monday

Today was a planned rest day...just weights. I was a little sore from yesterday's run, but not that bad. I did feel a bit stiff and "cob-webby," so I did a light 15 minutes on the elliptical before the weights. Otherwise, I cleaned my apt. this morning and walked a bit to/from the bus to go to work this afternoon.

Last night I went with a bunch of friends to "Sky High" in Bellevue where they played trampoline dodgeball. Being the pansy injury-phobe that I am, I didn't play...just bounced a little to try it out in between their games. It was a kick and I kinda wanted to get into it, but when I got a note from a friend this morning who could hardly walk on her bad knee after bouncing around all night last night, I felt I'd made the right decision. Anyway, within the big group, I met a bunch of new people, including a couple of nice girls who are training for Ironman CDL in late June. Looks like I may have found a couple people to train with, at least on the bike. Yea!

Slow 'n steady

So the pre-training training is coming along pretty well, I think. I got in over 8 hours of training this week and 2 doubles, although both of those doubles were fairly small in terms of volume (yesterday was a 3600 yard morning swim team workout and a half hour spin on the trainer later in the day). But...I have to admit... both days I did doubles, I felt like they'd been longer workouts. But starting kind of small seems smart since I have 4 months till the race...and also since my cycling is such a weak link and I gotta muster some enthusiasm in that dept. Being "on strike from the bike" is the general mantra from about October to April or May in my world. I know, I know, time for a new mantra or I'm going to be a miserable pup in Hawaii.

Today was my long run...and it was the longest one in several months. I did 9 miles with a few decent hills included, and purposely kept the pace down to about a 10:05 mile. Keeping the slower pace definitely helped me make it without too much trouble. My body and, especially the hamstring/butt is feeling it now, but not too bad. I went out for the run right out of bed--as usual-- and I was about ready to kill for coffee and food by the time I got done. And the day is continuing with the necessity for regular feedings. It's so interesting how just bumping up the long run a little makes me super hungry all day...most people feel that effect from swimming, but I find it with running. By lunchtime today, my stomach alarm was blasting and I wanted salt and fat...NOW. Fortunately, there was some leftover beef stew in the freezer and I didn't eat the entire bag of chips that was calling loudly...not sure I can responsibly control the rumblings for the rest of the day, TBD.

9 mile run
1:31:20
Avg HR = 140

Brick with a break and back to the blog...

Sooooo...looks like it's been 5 months since I last blogged.

It appears that, well, it's 2011 and I've signed up for my first race that will put me in the 45-49 age group category. I haven't done a half ironman in well over 2 years and my longest run since I jacked up my knee last February has been a little over 8 miles, but the offer to go to Hawaii in the first week of June was too good to pass up. I'm registered for the Hawaii Half Iron on June 4. My knee and hamstring are both not sure this is a good decision, but my need to deal with seasonal affective disorder and not commit suicide in the Seattle winter has superseded all else. Having this on the calendar should help with the suicide prevention.

My biking is probably --no, certainly--what needs the most help (and enthusiasm). I've been getting back on the trainer about once per week to start getting back on track. This morning I did a 45 minute spin on the trainer (thank god for the Pandora disco station)...then had to go to the eye doc...then got in a short run. I didn't mean for it to be a tempo run, but it was a little faster than usual. I'm calling this workout a brick with a break...I mean, it was in bike/run order, I just had a, um, 3 hour transition that included breakfast, a shower, and a few other things. Hey, it's a start, right?

45 min bike trainer:
Avg HR = 133
Max HR = 150

3.9 mile run
34:58
Avg pace: 8:51
Avg HR= 145
Max HR = 161